The present disclosure relates to a display apparatus. Specifically, the present disclosure relates to a display apparatus which includes a display panel having a plurality of pixels disposed in a pixel region thereof such that an image is displayed in the image display region and the display panel includes photo-sensor elements which receive light to generate reception light data.
Display apparatus such as a liquid crystal display apparatus and an organic EL display apparatus have such advantages that they are small in thickness, light in weight and low in power consumption.
Among such display apparatus, the liquid crystal display apparatus has a liquid crystal panel as a display panel wherein a liquid crystal layer is filled between a pair of substrates. The liquid crystal panel is, for example, of the transmission type, and illumination light emitted from an illumination apparatus such as a backlight provided on the rear face of the liquid crystal panel is modulated by and transmitted through the liquid crystal panel. Then, display of an image is carried out on the front face of the liquid crystal panel with the modulated illumination light.
This liquid crystal panel is, for example, of the active matrix type and has a TFT array substrate on which a plurality of thin film transistors (TFT: Thin Film Transistor) which function as pixel switching elements. And, an opposing substrate is opposed to the TFT array substrate, and a liquid crystal layer is provided between the TFT array substrate and the opposing substrate. In the liquid crystal panel of the active matrix type, a pixel switching element inputs a potential to a pixel electrode to vary the voltage to be applied to the liquid crystal layer to control the transmission factor of light to be transmitted through the pixel to modulate the light.
In regard to such a liquid crystal panel as described above, a liquid crystal panel has been proposed wherein photo-sensor elements for receiving light to obtain reception light data are built in the pixel region in addition to the TFTs which function as the pixel switching elements described above (refer to, for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).
The liquid crystal panel described above can implement a function as a user interface by utilizing the built-in photo-sensor elements as position sensor elements (refer to, for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2). Therefore, a liquid crystal panel of the type described is called I/O touch panel (Integrated-Optical touch panel). In this liquid crystal panel, the necessity for installing a touch panel of the resistive film type or the capacitive type separately on the front face of the liquid crystal panel is eliminated. Accordingly, reduction in size and thickness of the apparatus can be implemented readily. Further, where a touch panel of the resistive film type or the capacitive type is installed, in some cases, light transmitted through the pixel region is decreased or interference of light is caused by the touch panel. Therefore, deterioration of the quality of the display image can be prevented.
In such a liquid crystal panel, for example, light reflected by a detection object body such as a finger of a user or a touch pen brought into touch with the front face side of the liquid crystal panel is received by a photo-sensor element built in as a position sensor element. Thereafter, the position at which the detection object body touches is specified based on reception light data obtained by the photo-sensor element, and an operation corresponding to the specified position is carried out by the liquid crystal display apparatus per se or some other electronic apparatus connected to the liquid crystal display apparatus.